MBC Directors

The Missouri Baptist Convention missionary staff makes up one team with one vision and one mission. Our vision is: Transforming lives and communities with the gospel. Our mission is: Cooperating with Missouri Baptists to make disciples, multiply churches, and develop leaders.

Six directors, whose biographies are listed below, lead this missionary team.

Executive Office

Dr. John Yeats Executive Director

Dr. John Yeats is Executive Director of the Missouri Baptist Convention. He directs the state’s missionary staff; administers Cooperative Program funds given by Missouri Baptist churches; serves as publisher of The Pathway, the official news journal of the MBC; and sets the state’s cooperative strategy for fulfilling the Acts 1:8 mission mandate.

Prior to his leadership in Missouri, he served as director of communications and public policy for the Louisiana Baptist Convention. He also served as editor of the Oklahoma Baptist Messenger and served the State Convention of Baptists in Indiana as director of communications and editor of the Indiana Baptist.

Since 1997, he has been the recording secretary of the Southern Baptist Convention. He also served 20 years as pastor of churches in Texas and Kansas and has led several multi-staff churches through effective interim pastorates.

While he has written for several periodicals published by LifeWay Christian Resources and Christianity Today, Yeats is the author of two books – Revive Us, O Lord! and Worth Its Weight in Gold. He is a contributing author of the Nelson’s Annual Preachers Sourcebook 2016. He also is co-author of a 21-day spiritual awakening guidebook, Desperate for Jesus.

Yeats received a B.A. degree from Dallas Baptist University, a Master of Divinity from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and a Doctor of Ministry from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

He and his wife, Sharon, have three sons and nine grandchildren. They reside in Lohman, Mo.

Making Disciples

Brad Bennett Director

Brad Bennett is the Making Disciples Director for the Missouri Baptist Convention. His responsibilities include evangelism; strategies for church leaders and families to make, mark, mature, and multiply disciples; and age-graded training events and conferences to equip Missouri Baptists to transform lives and communities with the gospel.

Bennett has been equipping individuals and churches in relational evangelism for more than 20 years. He has served as student pastor at MBC churches in Salem and Neosho, and more recently he served as pastor of evangelism at Second Baptist Church and Ridgecrest Baptist Church in Springfield.

Saved at the age of 19 while racing professional motocross, Bennett soon answered a call from the Lord to full-time ministry. He is the founder of Real Encounter Outreach, which blends action sports with an anointed message of the gospel to introduce people from all walks of life to the person of Jesus Christ.

Bennett and his wife, Janet, have three children and three grandchildren.

Multiplying Churches

Dr. Rick Hedger Director

Dr. Rick Hedger is the Multiplying Churches Director for the Missouri Baptist Convention. He is responsible for church multiplication strategies and Great Commission partnerships here, there, and everywhere. He works to support healthy churches that plant other healthy church-planting churches.

Hedger was born into the family of God and called into Christian service in 1978. Since then, he has served as senior pastor of churches in Missouri and Arkansas and in a church-planting role in Tennessee, Arkansas, and Missouri.

As pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Neosho, Mo., he developed partnerships with International Mission Board missionaries to engage the people of West Africa. God soon turned the call on his life to “Call Out the Called” through local churches, serving as mission awareness director for the Illinois Baptist State Association and now at the MBC.

He holds a B.A. degree in Bible from Missouri Baptist University, and both a Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry from Mid America Baptist Theological Seminary.

Developing Leaders

Jim Misloski Director

Jim Misloski is the Developing Leaders Director for the Missouri Baptist Convention. He is responsible for equipping and strengthening today’s churches and church leaders; discovering the next generation of leaders and preparing them to serve; and mobilizing leaders for Kingdom service in every sphere of influence. He directs the MBC’s pastoral ministry, transitional pastor training, disaster relief training and deployment, church revitalization, and support events.

Prior to coming to the MBC in 2016, Misloski served as state director of missions for the Colorado Baptist General Convention. Before that, he served as church planting missionary for Longs Peak Baptist Association (Colo.), and as a church planter/pastor and discipleship/missions pastor in Colorado. He also has corporate experience, serving as senior brand manager for Group Publishing and, before that, vice president of creative services for Darcy, Masius, Benton & Bowles in St. Louis.

Misloski holds a Master of Divinity degree from Gateway Seminary (formerly Golden Gate Theological Seminary), and a B.A. degree in art/communication from Missouri State University. He and his wife, Paula, have three children.

Collegiate Ministry

Gene Austin Director

Gene Austin is the director of Collegiate Ministries for the Missouri Baptist Convention. His duties include serving campus missionaries on 26 campuses around the state; developing and resourcing church-based collegiate ministries; working with local Missouri Baptists to establish new ministries on campuses with no current MBC presence; and developing a long-term vision and strategy for saturating Missouri’s college campuses with the gospel, resulting in disciples who make disciples among college students.Austin joined the MBC in 2000 and has served in a variety of roles, including campus minister at Truman State University, collegiate regional coordinator for north Missouri, and state collegiate ministry specialist.

The Cairo, Mo., native served on a submarine in the U.S. Navy for nine years following high school graduation. He earned his bachelor of science degree in occupational education from Southern Illinois University – Carbondale. He later earned a master of divinity degree from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City.

He and his wife, Vickie, have seven children, including five adopted sons and daughters.

Ministry Support

Rob Phillips Director

Rob Phillips is the Ministry Support Director for the Missouri Baptist Convention. He is responsible for MBC messaging, web, video and graphic services, live event support, technology, and promotion of the Cooperative Program and Missouri Missions Offering.

He also speaks in churches and leads conferences on Christian apologetics, and provides free downloadable resources for pastors and teachers at oncedelivered.net.

Phillips has extensive communications experience in business and Christian ministry and has served as a bi-vocational pastor. He holds a B.A. degree in journalism from Oklahoma Baptist University and is certified in Christian apologetics from the North American Mission Board.

He is the author of seven books: The Kingdom According to Jesus; The Apologist’s Tool Kit; What Every Christian Should Know about Islam; What Every Christian Should Know about Same-sex Attraction; What Everyone Should Know about the Afterlife; The Last Apologist: A Commentary on Jude for Defenders of the Christian Faith; and What Every Christian Should Know about Salvation.

Phillips and his wife, Nancy, have two children and reside in Jefferson City, Mo.